CHARLESTON, W.Va. – No. 19 Houston’s nine runs were too much for the Marshall baseball team to complete a series sweep Sunday at Appalachian Power Park, and the Cougars took a 9-1 decision over the Thundering Herd.

Marshall (13-18, 3-3 Conference USA) battled in a scoreless game through the first three innings, but Houston (24-9, 6-3 C-USA) plated runs in four straight innings to come away with the victory.

It all started for the Cougars in the fourth when Justin Montemayor hit a three-run homer to right field off Marshall starter Michael Taylor (3-3). After that, the Cougars added a pair of runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh frames.

Marshall scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth on Gray Stafford’s ground ball to the right side that slipped under the diving reach of first baseman Montemayor, scoring Dundon from second. Dundon had reached previously on one of his four singles of the day.

Ballou singled in his fourth plate appearance (seventh inning) and extended his streak of reaching base to 23 games.

Marshall left 10 runners stranded, including leaving the bases loaded in the first.

Houston starting pitcher Jake Lemoine (5-1) was the winner, lasting six innings with just the one (earned) run. Chase Wellbrock picked up his fifth save on a three-inning relief outing.

Marshall will be back on the road for a midweek test at Ohio State on Wednesday before heading south for Southern Miss Friday through Sunday. First pitch against OSU in Columbus, Ohio, is set for 6:35 p.m.